If you only need a small mailbox in Microsoft Office 365 then you can use the Exchange Online Kiosk license. This kiosk license is designed for users that don’t have a dedicated computer and don’t require all the messaging features in Exchange.
With a 2GB mailbox is the Exchange Online Kiosk mailbox really designed for an occasional email. If users are going to receive more mail or want to use Teams then the Frontline worker plans are maybe a better option.
In this article, we are going to take a look at the limitations of the kiosk license and compare it with a couple of other options.
Exchange Online Kiosk Limitations
The Exchange Online Kiosk plan costs only $2 per user per month, making it the cheapest license in Office 365. But that comes with some limitations that you really need to keep in mind:
- Only Outlook Online and Outlook on mobile devices (max screen size 10.1 inch)
- Only 2Gb mailbox
- No email archiving
- No Microsoft Outlook for desktops
- No Office 365 Groups
A common misconception is that you can’t access a shared mailbox with a kiosk plan. But according to the service description from Microsoft, there are no limitations to this. The only limitation is that you can’t add delegated access to the kiosk mailbox itself.
Other limitations can mostly be found in the security and legal features of Exchange Online, think as In-Place hold, Litigation Hold, Data Loss Prevention, and message encryption.
Also, it’s only an Exchange Online plan, so you don’t get any of the other Microsoft apps, like OneDrive storage, or Microsoft Teams access.
Comparing Exchange Online Kiosk
I have compared the Exchange Online Kiosk plan with Exchange Online Plan 1 and the Frontline-Worker plans to give you a better idea of what the limitations are of the kiosk plan.
I have listed all the Exchange Online differences between the plans and focussed on the important differences when it comes to Office 365. You can find all the details about the Exchange plans here in the service description from Microsoft.
| Exchange Details | Exchange Online Kiosk | Exchange Online Plan 1 | Office 365 F3 | Office 365 E1 | Microsoft 365 F3 |
| Exchange Mailbox size | 2Gb | 50Gb | 2Gb | 50Gb | 2Gb |
| Email archiving | Yes 50Gb | Yes 50Gb | |||
| Office 365 Groups | Yes | Yes | |||
| Delegate access | Yes | Yes | |||
| Inbox rules | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Public folder & Resource mailbox | Yes | Yes | |||
| Single item recovery | Yes | Yes | |||
| Outlook add-ins and Outlook MAPI | Yes | Yes | |||
| Data loss prevention | |||||
| In-Place Hold and Litigation Hold | |||||
| Chat, Meetings, Social, and Calling | |||||
| Microsoft Teams | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Live Events | Yes | ||||
| Yammer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Microsoft Shifts | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Microsoft Bookings | Yes |
| Storage | |||
| OneDrive Storage (per user) | 2 GB | 1 TB | 2 GB |
| SharePoint | Kiosk 3 | Plan 1 2 | Kiosk 3 |
| Notes: 1. 5 TB initial, contact Microsoft to increase. Less then 5 users, then only 1 TB per user 2. 1 TB Storage + 10Gb per user 3. 1 TB Storage | |||
| Project and task management | |||
| Planner | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| To-Do | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Automation | |||
| Power Automate, Power Apps | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Exchange Online Kiosk | Exchange Online Plan 1 | Office 365 F3 | Office 365 E1 | Microsoft 365 F3 | |
| MyAnalytics | Yes | ||||
| Endpoint and app management | |||||
| Microsoft Endpoint Manager | Yes | ||||
| Mobile application management | Yes | ||||
| Intune Remotely wipe company data from lost devices | Yes | ||||
| Windows Autopilot Set up and pre-configure new devices, getting them ready for productive use | Yes | ||||
| Advanced threat protection | |||||
| Windows Defender Firewall, Anti-malware, Exploit Guard, Credential Guard | Yes |
| Identity and access management | Exchange Online Kiosk | Exchange Online Plan 1 | Office 365 F3 | Office 365 E1 | Microsoft 365 F3 |
| Azure Active Directory Premium | Plan 1 | ||||
| Conditional Access | Yes | ||||
| AD Sync for SSO | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
| Windows Hello for Business | Yes | ||||
| Microsoft Advanced Threat Analytics | Yes | ||||
| Information Protection and Governance | |||||
| Azure Information Protection | Plan 1 | ||||
| Manual sensitivity labels | Yes | ||||
| eDiscovery and auditing | Exchange Online Kiosk | Exchange Online Plan 1 | Office 365 F3 | Office 365 E1 | Microsoft 365 F1 |
| Content Search, Basic Audit | Yes | Yes | Yes |
For only $2 more per month, you can give your users access to all the apps of Office 365, including Teams and OneDrive storage. Or if you only need mail, then for $4 per user they get a large mailbox, archiving, and single item recovery.
I have left the Microsoft 365 F1 plan out of the comparison because it doesn’t exclude Exchange Online.
To create this comparison I have used the Service Descriptions from Microsoft. There are some contradictions when it comes to Shared Mailbox access and inbox rules between the Service Description and the Exchange Licensing FAQ. I have asked Microsoft for clarification on this point and will update the article if necessary (Service descriptions should be leading though).
Wrapping Up
Keep in mind that you can always upgrade a license without losing any of the data. So you can perfectly start with the kiosk plan, and always upgrade if you need a large mailbox size or more Office 365 features (like OneDrive or Teams).
I have also compared all the major Microsoft Office 365 plan in one clear overview. If you have any questions, then just drop a comment below.